Don't You Dare
by MidnightStarr
Summary: Ozuma ponders over telling Mariam how he feels,while Mariam locks her feelings away and spends her time waiting for him to finally make a move. Songfic.


**Don't You Dare**

_Dark cloud moving in.  
__Just one fall of rain,  
__Would wash away,  
__Wash away the pain.._

Ozuma looked at her specter, sitting alone against a sunset backdrop, and facing away from him. Mariam.

Ozuma had wanted Mariam since the dawn of time itself. Ozuma looked up; The sky was getting cloudy. Perhaps a light shower before the moon would rise high in the sky. Tonight should be the night... Yes, it should be tonight. Then, Salima would get off his back, as would Joseph and Dunga.

'Ask her out'.

'You love her, don't you?'

'Ozuma, would you date me?' But Ozuma didn't want Salima, and the reason he felt like marching up to Mariam right now wasn't just because he wanted his nagging team mates off his back. He truly loved her... But, Mariam would never return his feelings.

_I could say that I don't care,  
__But the truth is I'd follow you anywhere.  
__I've been waiting such a long, long time...  
__Don't you dare change your mind._

Mariam could care less whether he liked her or not. And yet she would talk about how all that mattered to him was the mission. No, no that wasn't true at all. Mariam rested on Ozuma's mind day and night, dawn and dusk, midnight to twilight.

Ozuma began a few steps up the grassy slope towards the hill on which she was sitting. He was almost halfway up when the girl he adored turned to look at him; her usual blank stare caught his eyes.

'What do you want? You know I hate people sneaking up on me'.

'I was in the middle of thinking about something important!'

'I just don't feel the same way...'

The thoughts stopped Ozuma in his tracks. She would reject him, and everything would be awkward. She'd possibly reject him brutally... And painfully. Ozuma stiffened, straightened up on the slope. With Salima, as least he wouldn't get rejected. That girl had been infatuated with him for an awful long time now... But she wasn't the one he loved... But asking Mariam out and she not feeling the same way would damage their friendship. He would rather have Mariam as a friend then as an awkward work partner... Ozuma turned around, and walked away again, back down against the grass shadowed by the setting sun. He'd done this before, you know... Felt he was going to ask her, then decided against it. But there was no going back this time. Ozuma hit the street, and walked in the direction of Salima's house.

He turned to look back at Mariam, who was still watching his retreating form with that usual bored, lost stare in her beautiful eyes. And at the moment when he turned away, the sky opened up and a cool waterfall of rain fell from heaven. Ozuma kept walking.

_I could say that I don't care,  
__But the truth is I'd follow you anywhere.  
__I've been waiting such a long, long time...  
__Don't you dare change your mind._

Mariam watched him leave, and she could feel her heart breaking. Again, he wasn't going to ask her. And after all this time... She wanted him to ask her himself, but why wouldn't he? Mariam wanted him to love her, and to hold her. She cared for him so much, and his opinion and his voice were the only things that made the sun shine. And now, once again, he would back out. Perhaps for good this time. Because he liked Salima better? No, that couldn't be it...

_Don't wander round looking  
__For someone to replace me.  
__Don't wander round wasting  
__The rest of your life;  
__Don't wonder round waiting  
__For someone else to save you.  
__And don't you make the same mistake,  
__Twice...._

Mariam swallowed her feelings, and looked up at the sky; So grey, and so dark now that it was almost dusk and it was raining combined. No, Mariam was positive. She cared for Ozuma, and all she wanted was to know that he felt the same. The pouring rain matted Mariam's hair to her head, and her emerald eyes were unfazed by the drops of moisture as she stared long and hard.

_I could say that I don't care,  
__But the truth is I'd follow you anywhere.  
__I've been waiting such a long, long time.  
D__on't you dare change..._

Mariam let a tear, unseen and unheard fall from her glistening eye as she tore her eyes away from the grey and looked over at Ozuma's now nearly gone form.

"I know you care Ozuma. You saved a look just for me. I know."

_Your mind..._


End file.
